A Special Seminar was held in Department of English

22 May 2015

A Special Seminar was held in the English Department on the last weekend of March, in order to prepare a collection of essays on Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. The seminar comprised some of the world’s most distinguished academics in the field of Irish Literature and Gothic Studies. Chief among them were three visiting scholars, Dr. Terry Hale from the University of Hull and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; Prof. Rui Carvalho Homem of the University of Porto; and Prof William Hughes of Bath Spa University. Also speaking were Dr. Sabine Lenore Mueller of the University of Leipzig, former Visiting Scholar at the University of Macau, Dr. Zsuzsanna Varga of Glasgow University, and Dr. Damian Shaw and Prof. Matthew Gibson, both from the University of Macau.

The general focus of the seminar was the contexts of Bram Stoker’s work and life, with particular reference to unpublished manuscripts, including his correspondence. Subjects ranged from his absorption with English law, to Irish contexts, to his friendships with John Hall Caine and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. At the meeting on the morning of Saturday 28th March, it was agreed that the candidates had enough material for two books, and that is precisely what we set about preparing.

The Conference was supported by Prof Gibson’s Multi-Year Research Grant, ‘Editing the Correspondence of Bram Stoker’.